Category: Australia

Why wouldn’t you take a Tasmania road trip? I know it’s sometimes seen as Australia’s footnote, but really it’s where the Australian landscape, animals and lovely people come together. I’m not going to lie – Tasmania is quiet and laid back – especially for those used to fast-paced city life.…

Australia is home to the world’s steepest railway line. There are a few caveats that I have to add of course: Australia is home to the steepest cable-driven funicular railway. The world is so awesome and awe-inspiring that these little caveats matter now. There’s probably a steeper non-cable driven funicular…

I’m guilty of a traveller’s worst sin – seeing more of other countries and cities than your own hometown. Not that Sydney’s a town. But there really are tonnes of tourist attractions, naturally beautiful landscapes and awesome things to see and do. Of which, I’ve done approximately half, although even…

Tasmania’s Overland Track is not for the feint-hearted. It’s 65 kilometres of hiking – sometimes it feels like we were just hiking uphill to go down and then up again. I know that nature doesn’t really have any regard for my legs and feet, but I wouldn’t have minded a…

WARNING: The Overland Track is a serious undertaking, requiring well-prepared walkers with a good level of fitness, who understand the risks of walking in a remote alpine area. The weather can change rapidly and frequently, within just a few hours, from burning sun to sleet and snow. Deaths have occurred (even…

Let’s take a detour from the US trips and head back to Australia for a visit to Sydney’s Jenolan Caves. Mr M and I have just returned from a stiflingly humid fortnight in the motherland (yes, that’s what I’m calling Australia now) and I’m full of homesickness and memories. Jenolan…

Picture: Graeme Rainsbury. “I’d love to visit Australia but… I’m scared of all the killer animals there.” A variation of this sentence has been uttered to me by many, many people since I started travelling at 16. It doesn’t matter where I went – Malta, Italy, London, Belgium, Germany, America…

That’s not my name! “Can I have the chicken salad and a bottle of water please?” “Sorry?” “I just wanted to order the chicken salad. And a water.” *confused look* “I don’t understand you.” I’ll spare you the entirety of this conversation, suffice to say it ended when I did…